Clients' Perception of Pharmacist-provided Medication Counseling and Contemporary Roles in Patient Care in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria

Background: Effective medication counseling is integral to patient-centered pharmaceutical care.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate clients' perception of pharmacist-provided medication counseling and contemporary roles in patient care.

Methods: Clients' views of the content and usefulness of pharmacist-provided medication counseling and contemporary roles in patient care were evaluated using questionnaire-guided interviews of patrons of community and hospital pharmacies in Ibadan, southwestern Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey of pharmacists was also carried out. Data obtained were summarized with descriptive statistics. Chi-square was used for test of proportions, Kruskal-Wallis or Mann-Whitney U test for rank variables with p<0.05 considered significant.

Results: Majority (230; 92.0%) believed that pharmacist-provided medication counseling is helpful, and 241 (96.4%) agreed that pharmacists should be actively involved in health decision-making. Patrons of hospital pharmacy (89; 93.7%) largely reported to always receive the combination of verbal and written instructions during prescription refill compared to 117 (80.1%) among the patrons of community pharmacies (p=0.004). More than one-half (154;61.6%) agreed that pharmacists were not always accessible during refill. Forty (80.0%) participating pharmacists understood counseling to comprehensively include verbal and written instructions.

Conclusion: There is need for proactive measures among pharmacists by engaging in core activities that will directly impact on patient care.